Big_Bopper

you've heard me talk about how certain pix with names in the credits become rare. one such pic is The Clay Pigeon - 1949 by richard fleisher. the name in the credits is Carl Foreman & so TCM cannot show it. I copied it off AMC in the 90's & it is not on video in this country. The Clay Pigeon [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.2 Import - Spain ] Barbara Hale (Primary Contributor), Bill Williams (Primary Contributor), Richard Fleischer (Director) | Format: DVD available from Spain! R.O. again worships the blacklist.

I recorded The Black Book last time it was on TCM. The print was horrible. Blurry & then some. maybe it will be improved next time. It is a dark picture to begin with so the print has to be sharp (john alton)... When Anthony Mann did his crime pix for mgm they lit them up losing the shadowy quality. Typical MGM foolosophy destroying the very reason the people were hired in the first place.

I have a great idea for a new classic movie channel. Similar to Nostalgia Channel but with less commercial breaks. say one break lasting 5 minutes in the middle of an 85 min. movie. They could sell products & services old people can use. This way the programmers have a financial incentive. However if they use too many breaks can easily ruin it like AMC. & I don't approve of logos on the screen constantly. every half hour on & off. unobtrusive. no visual plugs. movies will pay for themselves.

I like his early crime pix. Great Flamarion, He Walked By Night, Strange Impersonation, Railroaded, T-Men, Raw Deal, etc. after 1950 he became uninteresting to me. But he was great for awhile so we must appreciate that.

tcm is showing some pix this morning. he was working low budget at prc, rko , eagle-lion, and dore schary hired him at mgm. the mgm pix are bad. why is that? Because its MG freakin M the worst studio! they can take a winner & just by osmosis turn him into a loser. gutless dreck thats MGM. Dreck for dreck's sake.

according to George Jacobs, Natalies mom would bring her to Sinatra's house for "Acting Lessons" when she was a kid & this affair lasted for years. 'My Life With Frank Sinatra' After Decades Of Silence, George Jacobs Writes About His Legendary Boss By Rome Neal . (CBS/The Early Show) . "Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra" (HarperEntertainment) . Having the time to catch up on your reading is just one of the many joys of the season. And if you need help picking a page turner, look no further. .(CBS) From the early '50s to late '60s, the best guy a person could know may have been Frank Sinatra, according to George Jacobs. After almost 35 years of silence, Jacobs writes of the parties, the people, and the places he saw as personal valet and confidant to Sinatra in "Mr. S: My Life with Frank Sinatra," which he wrote with William Stadiem. In it, Jacobs provides a look at a womanizing Sinatra who pursued some of the most famous women of Hollywood - Marilyn Monroe, Ava Gardner and actress Grace Kelly who was to become Princess Grace of Monaco. Jacobs tells The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith his relationship with Sinatra was more like that of a father and son.

Maybe its me. I have no problem with silents except MGM dreck, But the 1930's horror series was a high point. then it took a while probably because foreign jews escaping the nazis came here & were put to work. their talents lifted hollywood to heights never before seen to another peak of crime type pix w/expressionist style. then the late 50's the last great horror series w/hammer & others. All romantic pix were always dreck & even more so now.

yeah what else is new. R.O. is a legend in his own mind.

My thinking is TCM is into lame mgm stuff. I like low budget. People with no money have to really care about a story to film it. Somebody mentioned Naked Edge with Gary Cooper & Deborah Kerr. I have this movie & its a disappointment. It does not make sense. Maybe that is why it isn't seen often. I'll take another look at it soon. TCM had scheduled Before I Hang & then deleted it. This is the one good Karloff pic I don't have. Hopefully they'll reschedule that. if TCM can understand a very simple fact: the only Old movies that are still watchable are the crime/horror pics. all that romantic dreck is unwatchable.

It looked like the movie needs to be seen in a theater. it just was lacking on tv. of course my 1959 Philco tv works perfect. I do own "the Bat" on a tape from Sinister. I will check it out.

Big Bopper was a DJ & then became an artist when he got a hit record Chantilly Lace. For those who don't know He died in the same plane crash with Buddy Holly & Ritchie Valens. As a person I am like the main character Mike Hammer in: "I, the Jury". I have the same sort of personality.

tcm coodn evin wate til 'e wuz ded befo exploitin 'im

Fog Island is a great pic of its type. nasty actually. another is The Black Raven similar to Fog Island. Wonder why TCM don't show these.

I am a fan of what they call Poverty Row, Producers Releasing Corp. The Best can be great like Detour & Bluebeard but unfortunately fine quality complete prints are a tuff find. I have a rare one Arson Squad with Frank Albertson & Robert Armstrong. Very well made by Lew Landers. Another good one is Crime Inc. with a large cast of well known actors headed by Tom Neal. I'm sure I have more but perhaps some of you might also be fans & can name more titles.

what I intended to say was how we automatically assume Kevin Brownlow is using restored movies for his Photoplay productions & how Broken Blossoms was missing scenes. If I had a chance I'd ask him why the scenes were cut. But we all owe a huge debt to Kevin Brownlow for giving new life to silent films with appropriate music & slowing them to their proper speeds.

others have observed TCM showing modified pix so it is no surprise. But still you hope with only one old movie channel, that that one channel will have the needed integrity not to put up with this crap. this includes time compression which is a modification although it is not considered so by the tv biz. I have listed other movies on TCM that were cropped even though TCM does not actually do it they are just as guilty by showing it without a declaration at the beginning: Man in the Net, On the Waterfront, Desperate Hours, Separate Tables, to name a few of what I call fake letterbox. that's why its bait car. you think you're getting a great movie but its only bait

with regards to China's Little Devils, I used this title as an example of why movies are not shown that have the name of a blacklisted person in the credits. No I did not buy this movie. & back to my Bait Car topic: You don't need to know a movie has been modified if the freakin heads are cut off. I have full screen versions of Room at the Top & Term of Trial. So it is obvious to me. Maybe I'm wrong & if I'm wrong I'll admit it. But I don't think I am.

like somebody said great movies are sitting gathering dust in universal's vault remaining unseen. Even the movie: "The Unseen" remains unseen

I have a bunch of photoplay pix. Of course I'm interested to get any I don't have. how do I go about it? napoleon & intolerence

I'm allowed to talk about more than one thing. If TCM wants to show modified movies they need to declare at the beginning "This film has been modified to fit your widescreen." just don't try & trick people into thinking 35mm is cinemascope.

I have been thinking of buying "Intolerence" & thanks to your recommendation I will try & get your version. As for Alpha, I had read about how bad they were on Amazon reviews but I did'nt let it throw me. so I bought a bunch cheap $1 each "The Hoodlum", Blonde Ice, Fog Island, White Zombie, Non Stop New York, Winterset, The Ape, The Capture, The Ring, Postmark for Danger, Sleeping Tiger, Corpse Vanishes, Woman on the Run. Trapped, Man who Cheated Himself, Great flamarion Fugitive Road, Kansas City Condidential etc. usually 5 per month @ $28. its well worth it

tcm is just like the show "bait car". They entice you to watch it & then use cropped fake letterbox presentations of "Room at the Top" & "Term of Trial". Hey TCM! there is already an aspect ratio & it was decided by the filmmakers. TCM is not part of the creative process. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

issued a version of "Broken Blossoms" from the collection of Raymond Rohauer. It was shown on PBS in the 90's - that's where I taped it. Just out of curiosity, I bought a dvd of "Broken Blossoms" from Alpha Video for $5. the print is excellent quality & I was surprised to find many scenes involving the Chinaman missing from the Brownlow version. He gambles, does some **** & gets beat up by sailors. This is a rare instance where Brownlow slipped up. I have bought many dvds from Alpha & they are very high quality & complete too. I highly recommend Alpha Video.

He is of the last batch from the old great hollywood studio system. for that he is justly famous. however he wrecked his mind on drugs & diminished his talent. Night Tide is a good example of Dennis Hopper before the problems.

wouldn't it be a trip if the new footage discovered turns out to be of no real importance & the cut version a better pic!